1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to medical-surgical instruments and more particularly relates to apparatus for removing blood from a mammalian blood vessel.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The art is replete with descriptions of blood collection assemblies. Representative of prior art assemblies are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,290,857; 2,847,995; 3,494,351; 3,494,352; 3,734,080; 3,848,579; 3,874,367; and 3,886,930.
The assembly of the present invention is particularly advantageous over prior art assemblies in that it provides a great deal of flexibility to the operator in removing blood from a mammalian blood vessel. The patient may be oriented in any particular fashion and the blood collection container need not be in the immediate vicinity of the mammal. In addition, a number of components of the assembly of the invention may be reused a plurality of times, which was not always possible with the prior art assemblies.